Skinny eggplant ‘lasagne’

Inspired by a great recipe from Cherianne on the Blood Sugar Diet website in which we use thinly sliced eggplant instead of zucchini as it keeps its texture better. An excellent low-cal, low-carb Mediterranean-style vegetarian meal for anyone missing pasta.

Credit: Joe Sarah

• serves

  4

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 50 g raw spinach (or defrosted frozen spinach), chopped
• 50 g parmesan, grated
• 100 g cottage cheese (or ricotta, but note it has more calories and less protein)
• ½ red capsicum, deseeded and finely chopped
• 200 g mushrooms, chopped
• 1 fat garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 300 ml passata
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g eggplant, sliced lengthwise in ½ cm strips
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved, or 6 larger tomatoes, chopped
• 50 g cheddar, grated

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Finely chop the spinach and mix it with the parmesan and cottage cheese in a bowl, and season to taste. Place the chopped capsicum and mushrooms in a separate bowl along with the garlic, herbs, passata and olive oil. Season well.

Spread half of the veg mixture over the bottom of a rectangular ovenproof dish or tin, followed by alternating layers of sliced eggplant and the cheese and spinach mix. The last layer should be eggplant.

Pour the rest of the veg mixture over the top and dot with the cherry tomatoes. Cover the dish with foil and bake it for approximately 30 minutes or until the eggplant feels soft and thoroughly cooked. Remove the foil and sprinkle grated cheddar over the top of the lasagne. Put it back in the oven for another 10–15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and browned. Serve with a crunchy green salad.

Note

• You could add Quorn or minced meat to the tomato mix if desired.

Recipe and image from The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Book (Simon & Schuster Australia, $35, pbk). Photography by Joe Sarah.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.